A blood test to detect autism?

Published 3:05 pm, Friday, July 26, 2013

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

Image 1of/2

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 2

Dr. Robin Page Goin-Kochel, associate director for research at the Autism Center at Texas Children's Hospital and assistant professor in Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, psychology section, poses in an evaluation room at the Autism Center at Texas Children's Hospital, 8080 N. Stadium Drive, Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Houston. She is leading a Houston study on a new blood test for autism. ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle ) less

Dr. Robin Page Goin-Kochel, associate director for research at the Autism Center at Texas Children's Hospital and assistant professor in Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, psychology ... more

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

Image 2 of 2

Dr. Robin Goin-Kochel, associate director for research at the Autism Center at Texas Children's Hospital, is leading a Houston study on a new blood test designed to detect autism.

Dr. Robin Goin-Kochel, associate director for research at the Autism Center at Texas Children's Hospital, is leading a Houston study on a new blood test designed to detect autism.

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

A blood test to detect autism?

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

Scientists are researching a blood test that may detect autism in very young children, a needed tool in the effort to diagnose the neurological disorder as early as possible.

The test, under investigation at Texas Children's Hospital and 19 other sites in the United States and Canada, could make referrals easier for nonspecialists, who can have trouble distinguishing between autism and other developmental delays.

"A blood test for autism would be a huge boost," said Robin Goin-Kochel, the principal investigator of the study in Houston. "When a disorder is behaviorally based, it's a tricky diagnosis for the family doctors and pediatricians that parents are the first to see when they have concerns."

Goin-Kochel, associate director of research at Texas Children's Autism Center, said research has shown that earlier intervention is predictive of better outcomes, regardless of the severity of the case. The average age autism is diagnosed in the United States is 41/2, an age when therapy is no longer as effective.

The disorder, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates afflicts one in 88 children in the United States, is characterized by language difficulties, social impairment and repetitive behavior. The spectrum can range from milder cases to those in which the sufferer is locked into an isolated world he or she never exits.

There is no objective test for the disorder, which is diagnosed based on experts' assessment of the child's behavior.

The blood test, based on the quantity of particular molecules in blood, isn't meant so much to diagnose autism as to give children risk scores for the disorder, something to augment parents' and pediatricians' observations. An actual diagnosis would still be made by specialists.

There is not one specific gene that determines whether a child has autism, but researchers have found that children with autism have different amounts of biological molecules produced by many genes. Measuring the unique pattern of the differences is the basis of the new blood test.

A 2012 study found a similar test, involving 170 children with autism and 115 without autism, accurately identified autism in two-thirds of the children with the condition. The new test will give risk scores to more difficult cases, those in which it is not easy to identify whether they involve autism or other developmental disabilities.

The test is licensed by SynapDx, which has no ties to any autism treatment but hopes to commercialize the test.

It is unclear how many autism cases exist in Houston, but Goin-Kochel said Texas Children's cares for about 1,000 kids a year with the disorder. She said the hospital thus far has enrolled eight of the 50 total children between 18 months and 5 years it is trying to accumulate in a year. Most have been 3 to 4 years old.

Now Playing:

"Autism can be hard to diagnose in early childhood, given all the potential developmental delays," said Goin-Kochel, a Baylor College of Medicine professor of psychology. "A blood test would help doctors feel more confident about referrals, get those children who need therapy a head start."